The half vampire's war
by The Vampire Avatar
Summary: Steve has a plan and puts it to action, and unfortunately for the vampires- it works. Now all of the full blooded vampires are under Steve's control. They're fighting their assistants to the death. Darren takes the lead for the half vampires and leads them to war with the full bloods. Will the vampires get back to normal or will this be the end of the vampires forever?
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! This was writing with one of my assistants, VampiresRuleMyBrain. I got this idea when I was talking to her on Skype and I**

**just loved it!So I asked her to help me write it. :) Then later, I got more bored and asked Vampanezegirl to help out. So thank you both- you guys are awesome! :) Hope you like it!**

**Disclaimer: We don't own Cirque Du Freak**

* * *

Steve laughed evilly. He had a plan. A plan that was going to kill Darren. Literally. His plan was simple: Poison all the full vampires and turn

them on their assistants. Make them his slaves. The assistants –half-bloods… whatever.. would all die out. Then he would set the full

vampires on each other, to kill out all the full-vampires. The plan was genius. The best part was that Creepy Crepsley would be their leader.

His smile widened. And the half-bloods wouldn't stand a damn chance.

"Well, Darren. It's time. I do hope that you will enjoy fighting your mentor to the death," Steve purred as he pet his knife.

All he had to do was find out how to poison them. There was no way in hell that they would trust him if they saw him. Mr. Crepsley thought

that he was evil and had most likely told everyone to watch out for him. Steve growled in frustration. He suddenly threw his knife to the ground, dangerously close to Gannen's foot.

"What's wrong?" He asked, fearing he would get another knife, this one _in _his foot if he wasn't careful.

"Why is it so hard to think?" Steve yelled at the purple skinned man.

Gannen sat down next to Steve and asked what he needed help thinking about.

"How to poison Creepy and the rest of the damn vampires without getting the half-bloods infected with it," Steve snapped, throwing another knife at a poor vampaneze, who was hit in the shoulder.

Gannen winced sympathetically and thought about it for a minute –when he got an idea.

"Vancha once told me of the council that the vampires have every twelve years. What if we took out all the half vampires and had only the full vampires go in? Then fill the air with the gas, my lord?"

Steve thought about it. And the more he had thought about it, the more he liked it.

"The only, downfall is," Steve mumbled. "How would we get the half vampires to leave?"

"Easy. We use the vampets. We'll flit there and get the half-vampires out, claiming that there is something that they should see. And if their mentors ask, we just give them an excuse like, 'it's nothing for full vampire's eyes to see' or something like that. We'll disguise them as guards and send them there," Gannen immediately answered.

Steve cackled evilly.

"Sounds like a wonderful plan, Gannen."

* * *

Back at the mountain, Darren and Mr. Crepsley were sitting in the Hall of Khledon Lurt, drinking from large mugs of blood. Darren's

co-Prince, Vancha, had come earlier. He had green hair, red skin, wore purple animal skins, and smelt of dead, rotten animal carcass. It repulsed Darren. He ran his hand over his now bald head and thought of how interesting this upcoming council would be. Many had died and not many vampires would be in the fighting mood.

Darren put down his mug and looked at his mentor. He had been better since the death of his friends, Arra Sails and Gavner Purl, but was still very upset at times. This day had been one of those days. But he was very good at hiding his feelings from everybody, so it had seemed like nothing was wrong with the orange haired vampire. But Darren had known him in a way nobody had before. So Darren took him down to the hall as soon as he had woken up to get some blood and hopefully some ale, so he would become drunk and forget about his troubles.. So far he had no luck. Larten was only drinking blood.

Darren shifted his gaze from his emotionless mentor to his mug of blood and tried to think of something to say. But nothing came to the young half vampire's mind. He sighed again and his mentor snapped out of his thoughts and looked at his assistant. Something seemed troubled within him today. He himself was a little sad from the deaths again that day, but he didn't show it to anybody. He cleared his throat and Darren looked up.

"Darren," Mr. Crepsley spoke up, which surprised Darren; he didn't think that he would say anything. "Is something bothering you?"

Darren blinked in surprise from the question. He couldn't tell Mr. Crepsley that he knew he was sad. That would just make things worse.

"No, I'm fine," Darren lied and smiled at Mr. Crepsley. "Honest."

Mr. Crepsley knew that he was lying, but decided to not push it. Mr. Creplsey brought the mug of blood to his lips, took a sip, then set the mug down again and looked around for something to talk about with the boy.

He didn't have to think long, because he spotted Vancha walking in.

"Vancha!" Mr. Crepsley called out to his old friend.

Vancha turned around and saw Mr. Crepsley and Darren sitting at a table. He smiled and went over to the pair.

"Hey you two," Vancha said, sitting next to Mr. Crepsley and grabbing some blood for himself.

"Hello, sire," Mr. Crepsley nodded in a polite voice.

"Hey Vancha," Darren smiled; Things got interesting whenever Vancha was in the room.

Vancha nodded his head and drank more blood.

"So how are you two today? Are you excited for the council coming up in a few days? It'll be your first one as a prince, Darren," Vancha said as he finished off the blood.

"Yeah," Darren smiled.

He couldn't wait to for the council to begin. If Paris hadn't left for some war business, (they tried to get him to stay, but he refused and left before anybody could do much about it) Darren would have had to leave. But now he could be here and he was enthusiastic.

"I can't wait!"

Vancha chuckled at the smiling Darren and looked at Mr. Crepsley. Mr. Crepsley shrugged.

"It will be interesting. That much I know for sure."

Vancha rolled his eyes and playfully punched Mr. Crepsley in the arm.

"Lighten up!" Vancha smiled. "You used to be so much fun," he said, turning towards Darren. "He even sang at every council! He has the voice of an angel."

"Really?" Darren asked his mentor.

He rolled his eyes at Vancha's antics and at his assistant's surprise, and then looked down at his mug of blood and said sternly, "Yes. I used to sing, but not anymore. I do not sing unless it is a very special occasion or if a significant event has just occurred."

"Well, maybe sometime I could hear you sing?" Darren asked with high hopes.

Mr. Crepsley rolled his eyes at the boy.

"Maybe when you die."

Darren wasn't sure if he was kidding or was being serious. Vancha laughed a little, despite his attempts not to. He cleared his throat and looked at Darren. He really was a strong determined kid, and everybody knew that Mr. Crepsley loved the boy like a son, but nobody would ever admit it. Especially Mr. Crepsley himself.

* * *

_A few days later!_

Steve watched as the vampaneze killed a couple of guards at 'Vampire Mountain' and stole their clothes and weapons. It had taken them a few days to get here; they had flitted. It was much faster than the vampire rule of not flitting, but still took time. It bothered him that they would even think of not flitting through this cold weather. But hopefully that rule had caused the death of a few vampires.

The vampets dressed in the clothes of the now dead guards and nodded at Steve. They knew their orders. Get all the half vampires out ofthere and out of the mountain. But as for Darren...He hadn't gotten that far yet. He was going to have a guard kill him, but he wanted to seeDarren suffer. He thought about it until he came to a conclusion. He would have to get Darren when he was alone, otherwise he would screw everything up. He would have to knock out Darren. Then he could dispose of him.

"Gannen," He murmured. "I need your help."

"Aye, my lord?" Gannen said, standing alert, awaiting orders. "How may I be of assistance?"

"Darren..." Steve purred "We need to think of a way to separate him from the others… Evacuate the mountain of all half-bloods then pick him off from the pack..."

"Why?" Gannen asked as his brow ceased in confusion.

"Because otherwise he could ruin everything. It would be better if we could isolate him in the mountain, but that wouldn't be possible. There would always be someone around –so we need to do it while he's out here... somehow..."

Steve thought for a moment before laughing.

"I have an idea. Why don't we just-"

Before he could say another word, some of the vampaneze who had guarding the place shouted something. He went over there and gasped.

The old vampire prince, Paris, was back!

"Damn." Steve hissed. "Okay. Gannen, you and your troop go kill him. Now!" Gannen nodded and took out his knife. He ran over to the vampire and the prince was about to scream and try to fight when he shook his head and let the vampaneze kill him. He knew he was done for anyway… That his days were limited…

Steve hadn't expected the old vampire to give in so easily –but he didn't complain. This was going to be easier than he thought.

"Right. Vampets?"

He turned to face the humans, who had finished dressing.

"Your task is simple. Penetrate the mountain and get the half-vampires out!" He grinned, "There are some tunnels just slightly further down, that'll keep anyone from seeing you come in. Once your inside, your job is simple!"

Steve nodded at the disappearing guards and looked at Gannen.

"Ready, my lord?" Gannen asked.

Steve grinned and laughed out, "Get ready Darren, things are about to go to hell."

* * *

Darren was about to leave his cell when he realized that he didn't have his knife with him. Usually when you go to the hall of princes( does it

have a name?) You aren't allowed to enter with a weapon, but this year there were about sixty-eight half vampires coming, and weapons were

allowed on rare occasions such as these. He found Vanez, who whistling and making his way to the hall, when Darren asked him if he had seen his knife.

"Sure, it's in the Hall of Sports. It's strange; all of the half vampires left their weapons in there."

Darren nodded his thanks and went to go join the other vampires racing down to get their weapons. When Darren was in there, he counted all of the faces of the half vampires in the mountain. They seemed petrified by something. Darren was about to ask what the matter was, but before he could do anything, something hit his nostrils. And knew what that thing was. He had smelt it before – knock out gas from a vampaneze!

He was unconscious before he even had time to panic. This wasn't right. None of it was. Why were all the weapons down here, and how in the name of Charna had vampaneze got into the mountain? It was impossible. The last things he saw before the sleep stole him were the guards of the mountain._They're here to help..._he thought, but then was shocked as they did the opposite. It all seemed too unreal –the guards helping the vampaneze? No, the guards were loyal to the princes and clan –many of them were old as well. They wouldn't turn against their clan like this. So who were they? And that was the question that followed Darren into his forced slumber...

Mr. Crepsley waited for Darren while everybody was going into the room. A few other vampires were there, waiting for their assistants aswell. He was about to go after Darren, but before he could, they were all called in, assistant or no assistant, to go inside. Mr. Crepsley sighed and waited by the door on the inside. He paid attention, but most of his focus was spent on wondering where Darren was. Harkat was wondering the same thing as well, (along with Vancha and most of the vampires) but nobody could do anything about it.

Vancha was about to say something, when a bunch of guards came running into the room with spray paint cans, filled with something. They each had oxygen masks on. They then started to throw the cans everywhere, which exploded on contact, sending purple gas through the air.

"What are you–" Mika yelled, but then broke down a fit of coughs.

Mr. Crepsley was about to react, when he felt a mask being forced onto his face. The air inside the mask smelled strange, filling his lungs with polluted air. Then he realized that the mask must have been filled with the purple gas!

He slumped to the ground in a daze, along with the other vampires around him. How had this happened? Something wasn't right...then he felt it. His legs forced him up wildly, and his mind went blank. He could think of nothing, he knew nothing-all he knew was that he had to obey the one known as Steve Leonard. He didn't even know why... it was just what he had to do. He looked straight head, ignoring the others around him, and stood, waiting…

Orders would come soon, and he would follow. He had to follow...he wanted to follow... Others around him were doing the same. They stood quickly, automatically-like robots, an army of robots –each one waiting for orders from the great Steve Leonard.

* * *

Darren woke up to find himself outside of the mountain, lying in the cold snow. He stood up, only to see that the other half-vampires were still out cold. He looked around and his eyes settled on Steve, who laughing behind him.

"Well, Darren. It looks like you're the leader now."

Darren coked his head and his eye brows scrunched up in confusion.

"Huh?"

Steve jumped down from the rock he was on and landed in the snow in a crouch.

"Well, all the vampires aren't... here. They're gone. And since you're the only prince left, you're the leader. Of what little vampires there are left. And even those are only half. Good luck."

Darren growled at Steve then tried to reach him, but Steve shook his head and ran as fast as he could before Darren could catch him. Darren growled then went over to the other half vampires. He took all of them by their feet and dragged them all out of the snow into the trees, where the cold wasn't as bad. Darren had counted how many girls and guys there were out of the sixty-eight half-vampires. There were about sixteen girls and fifty-two boys. Why there were so many girls, he would never know.

He sighed and looked up a tree. He went up to the tree and began climbing it. He climbed up, to almost the top, and looked at the view. So much had changed that he couldn't believe it. Not even a day ago, he was smiling at his mentor while they talked. Vancha was making snide comments, and Seba was there, telling him stories about Mr. Crepsley when he was still an assistant. Mr. Crepsley was red with humiliation, while Darren and the others laughed at the stories.

Darren felt a tear go down his cheek and touched it with numb fingers._What do I do? I'm all alone leading a group of half vampires, I can't do this..._

_I can't do this..._

**You have to! Darren, you are a true vampire. Prove to me that you can lead a group on your own and I will fully believe that you can do anything. Please, for me, do this.**

Darren snapped his head up from his lap and looked around. He had heard Mr. Crepsley's voice, he was sure of it, but he was no-where to be found. He sighed once again.

_Must be dreaming...But I will do it. I promise you, I'll find a way to get you back, no matter if it's the last thing I do..._Darren thought as his eyelids closed and he fell asleep up high up the tree.

* * *

"Darren! Hey, are you up there?"

Darren opened his eyes to see that he was covered in snow._It must have snowed last night..._Darren thought as he brushed off the snow that covered him. He was about to think about what he should do when the other half-vampires wake up when a rock hit him. He freaked out and literally jumped from the shock. But since he was in a tree, he accidentally fell out of the tree and tumbled into branches.

Finally, he hit the ground, where he lay and groaned in pain for a few seconds.

"Sorry! Are you okay? I didn't mean to make you fall like that!"

Darren opened one of his eyes and saw a girl with blonde hair tied into a ponytail above him.

"My name is Sam. I'm so sorry. Can you hear me?"

Darren nodded and groaned once more. He let his head fall into the snow and he grumbled some curses before he looked back at the Sam girl.

"Need some help getting up?" Sam asked the hurt half-vampire.

Darren nodded and took her hand.

"How many are up?"

Sam smiled "All the girls are up, and only a few guys. Should we introduce us to you or...?"

Darren nodded his head. Sam smiled and led Darren to the others. The girls were scattered around, but still close. Two were sitting on logs near a fire poking it with sticks, trying to make the fire bigger. Two were sitting up in a tree, throwing pine cones at people, but missing on purpose. Six of them were sitting in a circle, talking about what they should do if they find their mentors. And the rest were picking up sticks and putting them in a pile, probably to be used for firewood.

"Girls," Sam said, and all the half-vampires' heads came up. "This is Darren. He wants to know your names."

The two sitting on logs looked like they wanted to kill Darren right off the bat. They scoffed and looked back at the fire.

"Those two," Sam pointed to the two, "Are Jessica and Andrea. They don't really trust you... nobody knows why."

Darren nodded slowly with his eyebrows scrunched up in confusion.

"The girls sitting in a circle are Sophia, Georgina, Megan, Katherine, Baily, and Amber. The ones who are throwing pine cones are Nikki and Cricket. The-"

"Her name is Cricket?" Darren asked, clearly bewildered.

"She only told us that it was her nickname. I know her real name, but she doesn't like it much, so I won't tell. But no, it's not her real name. Anyway, the rest of the ones getting wood are Angelica, Hale, Katherine, –yes there are two Katherines– Caitlin and Jenny."

Darren smiled at everyone but stopped when he saw Jenny. She had her mouth agape, eyes widened and wasn't breathing.

"Is she okay?" Darren whispered in Sam's ear.

Sam laughed and went over to Jenny. She took her arm and dragged her over to Darren.

"She's a HUGE fan of yours. Sam leaned in close and whispered in Darren's ear. She has a small crush on you."

Darren didn't know what to say. Jenny was breathing again, but she was still in shock.

"Hi, I'm Darren. Darren Shan."

He stuck out his hand to her and she slowly made her hand go up and shake his.

"H-hi." Jenny whispered.

"Oh, this is gonna be fun, she can't even say 'Hi' to you yet! Ha!" Nikki shouted from the top of the trees and threw a pine cone, which hit Jenny in the face.

Everybody stared at the girls in the tree and Nikki slowly put down the other pine cone behind a branch.

"...Sorry."

Eventually, everybody got up and sat around the fire. Andrea and Jessica had turned it into a bonfire and it warmed everybody up. Jessica stayed away from the fire though, she didn't really like it. Darren stood in front of everybody and was talking about what they should do. He had his back to the fire, so if anybody pushed him in, he would burn.

"Okay, so that's all I know. Steve said that they were gone, but I don't know what that means. So… I don't really know what to do. Anybody got suggestions?"

The silence was horrible. Darren was hoping that somebody would have an idea.

Finally, one person spoke up. He was a young man, somewhere around twenty or so.

"What about the wolves? We could team up with them for a while. See if they could lead us somewhere. After all, my mentor," Everybody looked down and the ground when he said mentor, "told me that vampire are like relatives to wolves. Maybe they could teach us something."

A few of the half-vampires nodded their agreement and I thought about it. As a prince, I would have all the full rights to do whatever I wanted. A few of the half-vampires disagreed with that and wanted to elect a new leader, because I was the youngest. But they had to. I was a prince and my word is law. I shrugged.

"I guess. But I don't know how they'll accept sixty-eight half-vampires."

A few of them smiled and Jenny gave me a thumbs up. I decided I liked the group of girls; most of them were really nice and the others were just...nice. They could only be described as that; Nice.

* * *

Steve laughed and licked blood off of a knife. He was sitting on a prince's throne –Darren's throne– and was wondering what happened to Darren. He purred happily and pointed at a small group of three vampires. They were very weak and he wanted them dead. He hand no room or pity if they were weak.

"You three. Go out and seek the half-vampires. I want you to kill as many as you can. But bring the masks and some spares!"

"Why my lord?" One of the vampires asked. Their voices were the same, but there was something different about them. Something dark and evil.

"Because you three are idiots. You'll probably break them all before you even find them!"

Steve sneered, turning his attention back to his favorite knife. He looked back and saw that they haven't moved.

"Well? What are you waiting for! GO!" He snapped throwing his knife at them. They ignored the knife and bowed. They stood and left. Steve sighed and looked at his knife, which was on the floor.

"CREPSLEY!" Steve screamed.

Mr. Crepsley stepped out from the shadows and nodded to his master. Steve smiled an evil smile and laughed at how genius he was.

He had made Crepsley his personal bitch. He did whatever he wanted, whenever he said so. Steve busted out laughing.

"Get my knife, Crepsley!" Steve snapped at the vampire.

Mr. Crepsley nodded and bowed.

"Yes, my lord."

He got up and went over to the knife, picked it up and brought it back to Steve.

"Why thank you, Crepsley. Now, go away. Your face disgusts me."

Mr. Crepsley nodded and bowed again.

"Yes, my lord."

He stood and walked away. Steve smiled.

"I wonder what Dare-bear what do if he saw what I was doing. Haha. Nah, he couldn't do anything. He's too weak. Am I right Crepsley? Is he nothing but scum to you?"

"Yes, my lord. He is worthless to me."

* * *

Darren led the group towards the mountain. Hopefully there would be some wolves or something there. Most of the group didn't talk. They had nothing to say. But the few that did talk were talking about how they were tricked into getting knocked out, how they were, what they should have done, and the one that everybody hated: where their mentors were, and if they were ever coming for them.

After a few hours of wondering around with no luck of finding any sign of the wolves, Darren turned to his group.

"Right. So, there's no sign of the wolves, did anybody see them coming up or...anytime?"

Not one hand had raised.

"It must be because of the vampaneze..." Katherine #1 said to herself.

Yet everybody had heard nodded his agreement.

"Had anybody else been here when the vampaneze were at the last council?" he asked.

A few hands rose into the air.

"Remember how none of them went into the mountain because of the vampaneze? They just stayed outside? Maybe it's the same case again, like last time. But I know where they–" Darren stopped talking, as well as everybody else.

It was quiet...too quite. Not a sound could be heard, no birds, no wind, nothing. Everybody looked around, spreading out from each other so they couldn't be slaughtered at once.

Suddenly, three vampires jumped from the trees and landed in the middle of the group. Four of the half-vampires screamed and ran to the middle of the half-vampires to the full vampires. Darren knew why they were running towards them before everything could be thought through.

They were their mentors, their greatest friend. They are always there for you, no matter in life or death, they will always save you. Always care for you, even when they are in desperate need of medical attention, or if they need to leave before they end up dead.

Darren would never tell anybody this, but one of his biggest fears would be that Mr. Crepsley would either betray Darren or die on him. Darren didn't know what Steve had meant when he said that all of the vampires were gone… there were three right in front of him!

...right?

The three vampires faced their students and stared straight ahead, as if they weren't even there. The three stopped and cautiously took a few steps forward, not knowing what to expect. One, the bravest, went up to them and reached out with a hand.

"Levdis?" he asked his mentor.

Something was wrong. A terrible feeling was hanging in the air. And nobody liked it.

The brave one took a few more steps closer to his mentor and put his hand on his mentor's shoulder. The mentor's eyes flashed and he twisted the arm behind his student's back. The brave one screamed and tried to get out of the hold, but before he could, the mentor's hand sliced through his assistant's heart and made an end of him.

The brave one fell to the snow, dead. The mentor shook the blood off his and looked to the others. They nodded and started to dig through their backpacks for something. They brought out some masks, which reminded Darren of the oxygen masks used in medical stuff, and tried to put it on their faces. But it kept falling off –or they didn't like it– so they threw it to the ground.

The half-vampires stared at the trio, shocked-unsure what to do. No one had ever seen anything like this before; a master going against, and even killing, his assistant. No one dared move, or speak until Darren stepped forward.

"The masks..." he stuttered "What are they?"

At this, one of the trio sneered. "They're to help you..." he promised "They're your only chance if survival against..." he laughed "the lord!"

Some of the younger, in-experienced half-vampires leaped forward and lunged for the masks, but Darren stopped them in their tracks.

"STOP!" he yelled.

The few that had run out stopped and turned back.

"Why?" one asked "You heard them...the masks are our only chance!"

But Darren shook his head

"He just killed one us...you trust him?"

The youngest half vampire grinned.

"It's our only hope..."

Then bent down and picked up one of the masks. Placing it to his mouth he took three deep breaths, and then to everyone's shock and horror, he fell to the ground...dead!

"What did the mask do!" Somebody screamed.

The vampires laughed and looked at the half vampires.

"Easy. It killed him. The masks aren't supposed to be breathed into, dumb asses."

One of the half vampires (Darren recognized them as the best friend of the one who just died) started to shake with anger and rage. They

sprung up and ran to the vampires. She grabbed a mask and before anybody could do anything, she jumped on his back and put the mask on his face, forcing him to breathe through it.

The other two full vampires did nothing. They weren't obliged to protect each other; they weren't ordered to. They were only ordered to kill. The vampire wearing the mask began to shake-then collapsed. Everyone else stared in shock as the half vampire that attacked howled into the sky -she was so upset. Then, something impossible happened; the full vampire that had just been killed...he stood up. Shaking his head, he squinted his eyes and looked around –only to be greeted by stares of shock and fear.

"Uh...my head..." the vampire said in his normal voice and got up.

He stood up straight and rubbed his moved, or did anything. Everybody's mouths were open, but made no noise.

After three minutes, one half vampire screamed, "What the hell?"

The vampire stopped rubbing his head and looked up. When he saw that his companions were still there, he got up, stole more masks from

the bag and pounced on them. He forced the masks on them in no time flat. He looked up at us and asked where he was.

"You're..." Darren began as the half-vampires looked around. "I don't know where we are exactly but...what just happened?"

"The masks..." The vampire smiled. "I just know that the masks are important –I just know that the full vampires need them–" he paused, scratched his head and then mumbled. "The perfect plan..."

"What is?"

"The cure...the only cure –it means death to some. Some, being half-vampires! No full vampire would ever think to breathe it...it's so simple, yet so dangerous!"

The half vampires looked at him blankly-then at his companions who were starting to rise.

"So what you're saying..." Darren questioned "is that the cure is the problem in the first place?"

The vampire nodded

"The cure for what?"

"The vampires! They're under his control! All of them...and...I can't be sure, but he has plans..." he paused again. "And big plans..."

"Who?"

The vampire smirked, "Who d'you think?"

And Darren knew immediately. It was Steve. Every single vampire –including Mr. Crepsley– was at the mercy of Steve Leonard.

Darren sighed and slumped a little. He closed his eyes and tried to believe that it was all a dream. That all of this was a dream, and he would wake up and Harkat would make fun of him for even thinking for a second that it was all true. Then they would walk down the halls to find Mr. Crepsley sitting at a table, eating some food. They would go and talk to him about the dream and Darren would blush all the way through. He wouldn't live it down for weeks until he had a new dream of him being a fairy. Then somehow weeks later he would top that and be the laughing stock of Vampire Mountain.

But none of that would happen. Life is too harsh to be like that. Darren opened his eyes and looked at the stars for the thousandth time in his life. He loved looking at the stars. It always calmed him down for some reason.

_Probably_, he thought to himself, _because it makes me think of home_. The stars in this sky were the same stars that his parents looked upon at night –and even though it'd been years, the thought made him feel less alone. It was ridiculous, but it worked.

"We have to stop him..." he muttered. "What gas is in those masks?" Darren asked the trio.

"I don't know; the lord never said!" one answered.

"Well..." Darren sighed. "We need to find out. We need to flood the mountain. That's where it is, right?-anyway, we need to flood the place with that gas!"

He shook his head.

"It's the only way we can get all the vampires back –it's the only way I can get Mr. Crepsley back..." Darren sighed then looked at the vampires. "Who is the highest in rank?" he asked the trio.

All three shook their heads.

"None. None of us are generals. We just went to the mountain for the council."

Darren cursed under his breath and looked back up at them.

"Do you still want me to lead?"

All of the girls (well, _most_) shouted yes. In one case (Guess who!) she shouted yes so loud and high that she was coughing for a few minutes after she screamed. The rest of half-vampires slowly showed their agreement.

"Well, it looks like we're overruled. Stay leader, who knows how long we're going to be here," one of the vampires said.

Nods of agreement went all around.

"Okay! Listen up! I promise you guys that we will get the vampires back to normal. If it's the last thing I do, I will turn all of them back! And if I have to die to doing it, so be it, I just want my friends back. I just want Mr. Crepsley back."

"Larten? He's the leader now. He's mad with protection for Steve as well. Good luck getting near him!" Vampire #2 scoffed.

"Then I'll die getting him back. Look, I just want things to go back to the way they were, alright? Now, who's with me?"

There was a moment of silence, in which Darren waited nervously –after almost a minute he had given up all hope, he'd have to do this alone,

when at the last second someone spoke.

"I am..." a voice whispered quietly, and all eyes looked to find it.

The owner was a young vampiress. She had short gingery-red hair, which –unlike the other vampires–was decorate by a fabric headband. Her jacket was red-just like Larten's, and she smiled happily.

"If Darren can put his life on the line for Larten...we can too!" She stepped forward to stand next to Darren and said, "Think about how much those vampires have done for us –they're our clan! We have to save them!"

This earned her a smile from Darren, causing her to wink and turn away as the half-vampires thought about it. This girl was right –they had to go. One by one the half vampires changed their mind...until almost all of them were willing to fight.

"By the way..." the girl grinned, putting her hand out for Darren to shake. "My name's Sophia!"

"I know," Darren smiled. "I met you at the fire, remember?"

"Oh...right. Sorry."

Sophia blushed, but Darren smiled and patted her back.

"It's fine. I'm glad you stuck up for me. I thought that I was gonna have to go in alone!"

She blushed and ran over to the other girls, who were whistling. Jenny looked like she was going to murder Sophia for doing that to him. Darren smiled.

He looked at the ground a few seconds later with no trace of a smile whatsoever. Already, two of the sixty-eight were dead. He closed his eyes when he heard a ticking noise and knew that things were going to get worse...a lot worse. But he wouldn't tell anybody that. That would make things very difficult.

He sighed and called out for everybody to get ready. They were going to leave in a few minutes.

The ticking sound didn't stop until he fell asleep that morning.

* * *

**Okay, okay. I know, I'm supposed to be working on my other fics, but I HAD to do this. I loved it too much to wait! ^u^ Now, I had some brave people volunteer. Here are my brave tributes:**

**Jess**

**Amber**

**Sophia**

**Caitlin**

**Katherine G.**

**Andrea**

**Alex**

**Lexi**

**Bravo to them! :) Thanks for letting me do stuff to you guys! But all of that will happen in the next chapter. Along with two battle scenes! ^u^ I was writing this with a friend and they were like "um...maybe you should make this a two shot XD" and here we are ;) More will be up soon, that's a promise!**

**~TVA**

**Hey, did you know that reviews make me go faster? ;) It does! So please review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys! :) I have decided to make this a three shot just because the final battle is going to be in the next chapter :D I really hope you guys like this! ^.^  
Disclaimer: I don't own Cirque Du Freak or anything of the sort.**

**Oh um...this chapter has a lot of gory stuff. And um… badness. So if you don't want to see some...** **stuff happening, I suggest you stop now. This is your final warning. Thank you!**

* * *

Steve sighed as he got out of his chair and paced once again. He had called every vampire in the mountain in here to discuss something very important that he had wanted to do for a while now. But if he learned anything, it was to be patient and that good things come to those who wait. He turned around and walked back into his chair. He smiled and started to laugh once again. If this were a normal day, the princes would be behind him, listening to the generals whines about how the vampaneze were kicking their butts at everything. He turned to the vampires and vampaneze, all under his control. He knew what would happen to them if they ever escaped his control. They would have a slight recollection of things, but only as if it was through a dirty window, making the memories hard to find. Right now, however, they were like robots. They would do whatever they were told, only livinh to serve his orders. They saw no reason or mercy in anything. They would kill anything if they wanted or were ordered to. The funny thing is that if the vampaneze were to breathe in that stuff in the masks, like the ones he sent with the three morons, they would actually turn into what the vampires were now and serve Darren, the leader of the half vampires.

Steve growled and stomped his foot on the ground. He ground his teeth so hard that he could hear teeth cracking.

"DAMN YOU DARREN!" He screamed.

He was about to say more, but then an idea popped into his mind. He grinned like a leopard about to catch his prey and turned to face vampaneze and vampires alike.

"Speaking of Darren, how would you guys like to go see him and the others?"

* * *

Darren woke to the sound of some wolves snuffling around the campsite. He opened his eyes and saw some of them walking over to them. He recognized two of them; Rudi and Streak!

He got up and smiled at the two. Rudi was a tad bigger and Streak was different somehow. Like he didn't recognize Darren or something. He must have thought he was somebody else until he shook his head and came over to Darren and licked his hand. Darren smiled at the two and bent down to pet them.

He was about to wake up some of the others, but suddenly, the fur on the back of their necks stood up and all the wolves in the area started to growl viciously. Darren looked at where they were growling and saw some figures coming out of the bushes, about a half mile away. Some of them looked familiar. He couldn't name them, but he knew what the most important detail was.

They were full vampires with their weapons drawn.

Darren shouted at everybody to get up immediately. The full vampires, who were lying on their sides, woke with a start and jumped to their feet, weapons draw. The half vampires got up when they heard Darren shouting, but they were a little slower than the full vampires.

"The vampires! They're coming! They're about a half mile from here, guys! Get up!" Darren ordered.

Some of the half-vampires screamed when they saw their mentors, their friends, and tried to get them to come back, but to no avail. Darren knew that they would end up being killed by their mentors if they tried to get the full vampires to listen to reason. He had to be what Steve told him he was. He had to take the role of the leader. And this was a chance for him to prove that he deserved that title.

"Guys, stop! They aren't your friends. They might have the faces of our mentors, but they aren't them! Not really! Remember how Levdis killed his own assistant so easily? They aren't the same! They're under mind control," Darren shouted to all of them. Then he remembered what made Ledvis become like his normal self again and frantically screamed, "We need the masks to stop them! Where are the masks?!".

Everybody started to look for the masks, but they searched half-heartedly, at a devastatingly slow pace. _It's like they don't even care that they're about to die!_

Darren glanced at the vampires. They were not even a quarter miles distance from them now. Darren shook his head and flipped out out. How was he supposed to do nothing and let them die!? Steve would probably order the vampires to kill themselves or something. _What would Mr. Crepsley say if he saw you now, Darren?! Think, Darren, think! You can't just let them die?! Act! Do SOMETHING! HURRY! _Darren screamed. All heads turned towards him as he freaked out.

"Jenny, I don't know why you like him. That guy is a freak!" Cricket whispered into her friend's ear.

One of the younger half-vampires stepped up to Darren and put a hand on his shoulder.

"First. Calm down. Second, if you don't listen to one, you will crack. We don't want a leader who's crazy, okay?" He grasped the young prince's shoulders and smiled at him, "It won't help this cause. Okay? My name is Alex. Okay, just chill okay?"

Darren gasped a shuddering breath and nodded. He studied Alex a little more. He had shaggy dirty blonde hair and was a strong man, around twenty or so. He had a scar above his eyebrow and was dressed in cheap clothes. Looked like something a third class person would wear in the 1900's.

"W-what's up with your clothes?" Darren asked.

Jack chuckled and nodded, "Yeah, focus on my clothes for a while, okay? Till you've calmed down."

Darren nodded and tried to remain calm . Alex looked over his shoulder and saw the vampires coming. And quick.

"You good yet?" He asked Darren.

"Yup." Darren nodded and took out his trusty sword. He stepped on a rock and looked at the ever coming vampires. From there, he could make out the shapes of some of his friends. Vancha, Seba, even one that looked like Steve. _Wait a second, that is Steve!_

Darren jumped down from the rock and turned to the vampires and half-vampires.

"Did we ever find the masks?!"

Darren shouted. Many nodded and he felt some weight leave his shoulders.

"Good. Pass them around so everyone gets one. Now listen, I don't want anybody fighting a vampire they know, okay? Feelings and memories would get in the way of everything! I want you to try not to hurt any, but if you have no other option..." Darren trailed off, everybody know what he was saying. "Anyway. I want you to try and get the masks on them, and get them to take a deep breath in! Now," he said as he turned to the vampires coming in about two-hundred yards away from them. "Let's go!"

Roaring a challenge, the mass of half vampires and the three full vampires, charged towards the vampires, ready to try and get them to turn back.

The two sides clashed and some were killed instantly. Darren dodged swords, knifes, and Vancha's favorite weapons –shurikens. He got cut on his arm despite his efforts, but it was better than getting his head cut off.

Darren was fighting off five different vampires at once and managed to get a mask on one, turning him back to the good side. _Steve must have told them to target me, _Darren thought as another three joined in on the fight. He looked around, but he didn't see his mentor anywhere. That was a good thing, otherwise he might become involved. While he was looking around, he lost attention and a vampire kneed him in his ribs, breaking a few. Darren gasped and held his chest. He looked up to see Vancha. He grinned and Darren flinched, just from the smile.

Vancha look extremely different. His eyes were blood red, he had shaved and he smelled less...Vancha. He had knifes in his ropes now too. They changed everything about him. Darren narrowed his eyes and whistled over to Alex. He locked eyes with Darren and nodded. They had arranged a plan for Vancha getting the mask treatment with that simple glance.

* * *

Steve watched the battle with his two ever faithful servants;. Larten Creepy Crepsley and Gannen Harst. He watched merrily as another half-vampire was killed. He laughed when he saw a mentor fighting their favorite assistant and killing them. The assistant's last words before their head was cut off were their mentor's name.

Then, not even two seconds later, a half-vampire fitted a mask on the killer's face. The mentor took a breath and shook their head. When he saw their student dead before him, he screamed in terror and horror at what he had done. He put his head on his student's head and cried on their ribs, silently begging for this to be a dream.

Steve laughed at the chaos surrounding him. All of this fighting, all of this **_bloodshed._** He loved that word. **_Bloodshed..._** He stopped laughing and smiled at Creepy Crepsley.

"Hey, Creepy!"

Mr. Crepsley looked down and got down onto his knees and bowed his head.

"Yes, my lord?" He asked in a monotone.

"Do you see Darren anywhere? I want you guys to have a play-date."

* * *

Darren threw another punch at Vancha, only to get his face kicked by Vancha's foot. He stumbled back and tried to shake his head, but Vancha already came and punched his face again. Darren growled and shouted at Alex to hurry up.

Vancha had forced the other vampires to leave; he had called dibs on Darren. Darren had a hard enough time fighting with Vancha when he was still...well, Vancha, but this was insane. He threw rapid punches, dodged almost everything Darren threw at him, and never seemed to run out of energy. Darren groaned as he was once again, knocked to the floor. Vancha picked him up and threw him down again. He repeated this until Alex jumped on, and tried to get Vancha to breathe through the mask, but Vancha jumped onto his back and crushed Alex.

Alex groaned, trying to catch his breath again. This gave Darren plenty of time to get a look around, even if it was just a glance, and stopped when he saw the vampire in red for the first time.

"Mr. Crepsley?" Darren asked, cautiously taking a step forward. The vampire growled and took a step back.

Darren looked into his eyes and saw nothing but hatred for him. He wanted to kill him. He only wanted to obey whatever Steve ordered and make sure that everybody did the same. Darren wanted to see something in those cold, hard eyes that remained as the Mr. Crepsley that he knew, possibly a flicker back to his old eyes. But he couldn't. Not even a sliver.

"Watch out, Darren!"

Darren turned to see Vancha flying at him. He dove to the floor and rolled out of the way. Vancha landed in a crouch, snarling, his yellowed canines covered in spit. It looked like he was a wild animal; he might as well have been, with the way he was acting. Darren got up and faced Vancha.

"Darren! Behind you!"

Darren turned to see Larten running up to him. He had his knife out and his nails curved like claws, sharper than Darren had ever seen. And he was tensing to jump on Darren. Darren glanced at Vancha, who he grunted. He was starting to get up and brought out one of the knives on his belt and swung it around. He got into a fighting position, ready to fight, and was slowly making his way towards Darren. Darren tore his gaze back from Vancha to Mr. Crepsley who had sprung up about a foot when Alex arrived on the scene and managed to knock him back to the ground.

Darren mentally thanked Alex for helping and looked back at Vancha. He accepted the challenge, beckoning two fingers and stepping forward with his sword.

Vancha smiled and ran to Darren. Their weapons clashed and immediately Darren knew he was outmatched. Vancha, impossibly, seemed stronger he had been a few minutes earlier. It looked like they all were. Darren looked past Vancha's head and saw some purple gas going into the air. Darren played a cheap trick and kicked Vancha with his leg while they had their weapons together. He was about to go after

"THE GAS HERE ONLY WORKS ON THOSE WHO HAVE BREATHED IT IN BEFORE! SO DON'T WORRY, YOU'RE SAFE!"

Darren snapped his body around to see Steve smiling down at him, siting in a tree.

"For now, at least."

Darren was about to ask what he was talking about, when Vancha jumped on him, tackling him to the ground. Darren was about to get up, but Vancha pinned him down. He took his left arm and put it behind under Darren's back. Darren couldn't move it. Vancha smiled and lied down on Darren, He put his elbow on Darren's neck and he turned his attention to Darren's right arm. He grabbed it and brought it closer to him. Darren screamed, he had no idea what was going on.

Vancha looked at Darren's hand and smiled. He took a hold on one of Darren's nails and slowly ripped it off Darren's finger. Darren screamed bloody murder as pain took over his body. He tried to escape the grasp of his deranged friend, but Vancha had pinned him down good. He finished ripping off of Darren's nail and went to the next one. Darren screamed and tried to get away, but to no avail. Vancha kept pulling the nails off. Only once did he do it quick, and that was just because he was getting bored and wanted to see the reaction (which was Darren screaming a quick, short scream, which bored him so he went back to the slow treatment).

He finally got to the last nail and ripped it off. Darren didn't react. He had lost a great deal of blood and he was in extreme pain. Well actually, he could barely feel anything. The pain was beginning to numb away. On the ground he laid, head titled, staring and his hand. His red coated hand.

Vancha put Darren's hand down and reached for his other. Just as he got the hand out, a half-vampire leapt on him and pressed a gas filled mask to Vancha's snarling face. Vancha breathed in a few breathes then his eyelids flickered a little. His eyes turned their normal color again and he looked around. He gaped at Steve, who was now shouting for a retreat. He was about to charge after the group of vampaneze and vampires, but then he saw all the half-vampires from the mountain. Many were sporting gaping wounds that were dyeing the snow red. Some were even dead.

He looked around at some of his fellow vampires who were just converted back. They were just as shocked as he was. Vancha almost cried when he saw Sam dead in the snow. She had been stabbed by a vampaneze and left to die. She had some dry tears running down her face and her mouth was covered in blood. He sobbed and kneeled next to her. He put his hand to his face and made the death touch sign.

"Even in death, may you be triumphant, my young assistant."

He opened his eyes and closed hers. He sobbed and stood up. Some of the full vampires were doing the same to their dead assistants while others were hugging theirs. The ones that were wounded were being treated to as best as they could.

Vancha sighed and looked around for Darren. Somebody screamed his name and he glanced over.

He was lying down, with blood gushing out of his hand. He looked really close to unconsciousness and some people rushed over to try to help with the hand. Vancha ran over there to find five nails lying in the snow with some blood on them. They looked like...Vancha closed his eyes and put his hand to his head. He remembered –barely – what he had done._ He_ had done this to Darren, ripped his nails off one by one. Vancha opened his guilt filled eyes as the vampires tried to rub saliva on his fingers to help the bleeding. The half-vampires bandaged up his hand and other wounds when their masters had done as much as they could for the bleeding prince.

Vancha offered to carry Darren after the wounds had been packed tight. Vancha picked up the boy and brought him over to the rocks. He sat on one while Darren was in his arms, now out cold.

"Sorry, Darren. I didn't mean to, I really didn't..."

* * *

–The next day–

Darren opened his eyes to see Amber above him. She was replacing the bloody bandages on his hand. He groaned and blinked again. She turned to him and smiled.

"Morning, Sleeping Beauty."

He groaned again. "How long was I out for?"

"'Bout a day."

"What happened during that?"

"Nothing much. We're trying to help the wounded and make the dead look proper for their funerals. We decided to have them tonight. With or without their mentors."

"What? No! We need to wait for everybody to be converted back to normal!" Darren said sternly as he tried to get up by putting his hand behind him. "OW!" He shouted and pulled his hand back.

Amber glared at him. "Your nails are gone. Most of the skin where the nails were is too. Be careful."

Amber grabbed her stuff and left the tent. Wait...tent?!

Darren stood up and went out of the tent. There were three tents. Then he saw a few vampires that had stuff like sleeping bags. Some were even eating hot dogs. Seba looked up when he heard Darren come out of the tent and nudged Vancha. He shook his head towards Darren and Vancha saw who he was pointing at got up to confront Darren.

"Hey Darren. How are you feeling?" Vancha asked as he guided Darren over to the fire where some hot dogs were.

"My hand hurts." Darren mumbled as he looked around the camp, not noticing Vancha looked down with guilt. "What's up with all these camp stuff? Like the tent, the hot dogs, even sleeping bags!"

"Oh that? We just found all of this a mile where the battle was. Guess some humans just got killed or something." Vancha said as he grabbed a hot dog and passed it to Darren while saying, "Though I tend to stay outside. Most of the vampires do, but the wounded vampires have to stay inside. The half-vampires won't let us do much."

Darren didn't respond for a while. He just nibbled on his hotdog. He looked up and saw a vampire crying. A half-vampire stood above him, his clothes covering in blood. He looked at the ground with something in his hands. Darren looked closer and saw it was the headband that Sophia was wearing the other day.

He looked down and tried not to think about how she had died. Already, a few were dead and tonight when they had the funerals, most of the mentors wouldn't be there.

"How many died, Vancha?" Darren whispered.

Vancha looked at Darren in shock.

"What?"

"How many vampires and half-vampires died in the fight?" Darren demanded, now in a stronger voice.

Vancha took a few seconds to run the numbers again in his head before answering, "Well...about...four vampires and...twelve half-vampires, including the ones that had died before the fight."  
Darren closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. _Twelve out of sixty-eight_. Twelve out of sixty eight had died in the battle. Slaughtered by their allies. Never to be able to see them the same again. Darren felt a hand on his shoulder and saw Seba above him.

"I understand how you feel. How it feels to have so many people taken from you when it wasn't right. I am so sorry for you Darren. Larten is too. You are too young for this. You would have been a wonderful vampire if it were not for this war. A lot of these half-vampires would have been. But until the war is over, you must know that you are stronger than most vampires that I have ever met."

Seba smiled and patted Darren's shoulder. Darren looked down at his feet and slowly stood up.

"Thank you, Seba, that means a lot, thank you."

Darren smiled and went over to the fire. He stared at it. The flames. The heat. The orange flames' dance. The wood dying. The smoke in the air. He raised his hands and placed his face in them for a few seconds when he felt something wet. He took his uninjured hand off for a second, and then put it back on his face. He felt salty tears streaming down his face and he could barely breathe without hiccupping.

_I'm so sorry..._

* * *

–LATER!–

The funerals were held that night. They couldn't wait until their mentors were present. Nobody thought that they would be able to turn them all, but nobody said that in front of Darren. He had the highest hopes out of everybody that they would be able to.

The funerals that would be held that night were for the sixteen who had died in the fights. Nobody knew the exact order of who died when, so they took turns by name. The first few were brought out and laid, gently, on some sticks and some dried leaves. They couldn't burn them one at a time like they did when they honored and burned the vampires that had fallen when the vampaneze invaded the mountain. They didn't have enough fuel to burn them. A lot of the half-vampires and vampires were upset about it, but they had to make do.

They all said nice things about the fallen and gave them a flower. They had washed the blood off of them the best they could,but on some the blood stains were on their clothes. The clothes were the only thing they couldn't do much about. Some, like Sam's shirt, were ripped and nobody could find anything to string them back together.

Most of the girls cried when Sophia and Sam came out to be burned. Darren swore he saw a few guys wipe away tears as well. They were both quite nice and tough; they were respected the way a vampire should be. Vancha looked like he wanted to cry, throw up, scream, and punch somebody when they brought them out. _For somebody who is dead, they sure do look peaceful._

They all had their eyes closed and their hands laced in one another across their chests. They were smiling and...and...

Darren started crying again. _Why did so many people die?! It wasn't fair! Why couldn't they just be alive and feel no pain? Why does everything like this happen!_

Just before they were about to light them on fire, Vancha stopped them and stepped forward to Sam. He kneeled by her and whispered something to her. Nobody knew what he said, it was too quiet but, apparently it was something extremely important to say. He took out his shuriken belt and pulled one of the throwing stars out. It was the best one he had ever had and loved it like it was his brother. He placed it in Sam's hand and kissed her forehead. He was about to leave when he shook his head and picked her up and hugged her. He was crying freely now. After a few minutes, he sniffled and put her down again. He got up and took a few steps back.

The half-vampire that was lighting everything looked at me for an answer on what to do. I nodded my head and he nodded back. He lit the pile of dead leaves and sticks and they burned slow at first, but faster and faster as the time went on.

After all the funerals and burnings were done, the group went back to camp and tried to think of something to say, but nobody said anything. The only sounds were the fire cracking and sobbing of the ones that had loosed somebody dear to their heart.

Darren was thinking of a plan to get the vampires back to normal. But he couldn't think of anything. They had the entire mountain for a base while they had a forest that could easily be destroyed in no time. Fire for example. They could burn the entire forest down and then the half-vampires would be dead in no time.

Darren shook his head to try to get rid of the thought and unwrapped his hand. He gasped loudly when he saw what the ends of his fingers looked like.

They had lots of scabs on them and they were red and puffy. Some of the spots were still bleeding while others were forming bruises and scabs. Some parts had some bits of nails left, but that was rare. On some fingers, the skin was pulled back and ripped off completely, leaving lines of red.

Darren sighed and started to put the bandages back on. When he was in school, a kid's nail accidentally fell off and it took over a year for it to grow back. That is, after all the doctor visits, creams that were put on and bandages.

After a few minutes of thinking he got up and turned to the rest of the camp. He looked around at them. They were in a fragile state and this should probably waited until they were stronger, but hey, better sooner than later, right?

"Hey, excuse me guys, but I think we need a talk."

Darren paused awkwardly. He was never the one to give speeches and this was no different. Everybody looked up at Darren like he had three heads. They had no idea what he was going to say or if he was even sane right now. After all, it was his best friend and his mentor who were leading the group that had killed sixteen of them.

"I know things are bad right now and a few of us had just lost somebody that we love. But...we um...we need to...um...fight them back. We have to fight for them to be converted back into their normal selves!"

A few of the half-vampires went back to what they were doing; others rolled their eyes and shook their heads.

"You really think that we will? You really think that we'll put our lives down for something that we can't even win?!" A voice challenged Darren.

Everybody turned to see Alex stand up and cross his arms.  
"We will win this- I just need your help!" Darren shot back.

"Bull shit. We already lost sixteen, the trust of the wolves, a sane leader and this war."

"No, we haven't! If you-"

"You really are stupid, aren't you?! Everybody knows that we won't win!"

"Would you just listen to me?! We WILL win! All we have to do is fight!"

"How many lives will that take, Darren?!" Alex screamed.

He had lost a very good friend of his in the battle and blamed Darren for it all.

"We already lost so many, how many more can you say we'll lose?"

"We'll lose more lives, yes, but-"

"There! You see?! He admits that we'll die!" Alex shouted to the crowd of half-vampires and few vampires. "I say we leave him now before he throws all of our lives away just to fight a hopeless cause!"

A few looked at each other nervously while others looked mad for some reason. Seba and Vancha shared a look and turned back to Darren.

"I'm not saying that everybody will die, but I can't guarantee that everybody will walk out fine. But I know we will win this!"

"Sure, Darren, we'll win this." Alex mumbled sarcastically.

"We will. If it is the last thing I do, I will turn our mentors, our friends back to normal. We will win this!" Darren shouted at Alex and the others.

"Sure. Tell me that when you're dead!" Alex growled. "You know what? I don't think you can change everybody back. After all, you're just a kid. What can you do?"

Vancha and Seba stood up, in case they needed to intervene. And the way the things were going, that might be soon.

"Don't," Darren growled threateningly, "underestimate me or my abilities. Ever."

Alex shrugged and turned around. He walked to the edge of camp and picked up a stick. He drew a line in the snow with it and stood on one side when he was done.

"Choose. You either pick to live and stay with me or you can choose to die with him."

All of the half-vampires looked at me then back at Alex. A few got up and went over to Alex while some stayed where they were with me. Seba and Vancha stayed with Darren of course, but Caitlin and Amber got up and went over to Alex's side. Darren was a little shocked at this, but not as bad as when Jenny got up and went over to Alex.

She walked up to Alex and stood there for a second before slapping him across the face and ran back over to Darren. She ran into him and hugged him. She started crying into his chest while he stood there for a second then hugged her.

"You promise you'll get them back to normal?" She sobbed.

"Yes. I promise. If it's the last thing I will do. I will try even when I am dead. I'll do anything to get him back," he whispered in her ear.

She nodded and sobbed into his chest again. "Soph and Sam died. They have died for this. I want to fight for what they were fighting for."

Darren nodded and looked at the stars. He felt calmer already. "I know. I know."


	3. Sorry

Alright.

So so so so SO sorry for not updating. At all. For months.  
But I guess I have a reason. Not a very good one, but a reason. I'm getting into this new series, Homestuck, which is great and all, but it left me with no desire to write any more CDF stuff. :/ So...  
However, I will make a promise to you all.  
I solemnly swear (that I'm up to no good...) that I will finish all of the current fics that I have up. ALSO, because I already put the 9th book of the CDF version with Larten living, I'll do 10,11, and 12. But after that, I dunno if I want to do more CDF stuff. I mean, YES, it's my second favorite series out of EVERYTHING, but...*shrugs*  
I'm really sorry guys. I feel horrible. I just feel that I should force myself to write a page a day for a story. So for the Vamp war, there are gonna be like 9 pages, so it's take 9 days. For the camp one, the next one is gonna be around 4 (I'm totally guessing on this one) so 4 days. I think I'll do that. But teachers are cracking down on homework and tests, ect.  
So I shall try to finish all my fics :3 PROMISE!  
I'm actually more active on my DA account if you wanna talk to me or something.  
vampwolf-hybrid . deviantart (Just delete the spaces)  
Feel free to message me, look through my art, etc ;)  
Sorry again guys!  
~TVA


	4. Chapter 4

Darren sighed.

Today was the day. Today was the day of the biggest battle of his life. After many hours of trash talking, yelling, screaming, curses, and plain our harshness, the vampires had come to a decision. The "Steve Team" had struck them first, so they should strike back.

They were going to attack Vampire Mountain.

Darren got up from his tent and went on a walk. He tried not to wake up anybody, except those who he had to talk to about the upcoming skirmish. He woke up Seba, Vancha, and of course the girls. Jenny was fine with waking up to help Darren, but the others were lagging the major eagerness.

"What do you want, Shan?" Katherine yawned and rubbed her arms, trying to warm up.

Vancha slapped her across the face and snapped at her, telling her to shape up and respect the princes.

"Anyway...I just wanted to let you know that I'm glad that I have such a strong team to lead me," Darren began before a few of the girls grumbled and started to walk back to the camp.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?!" Vancha called to them.

"We've all heard it before!" one of the girls yelled back.  
"Heard what?"  
"The whole 'thank you for being a miracle and I am so glad that you were my team' and blah, blah, blah!"

Daren scrunched up his eyebrows before sighing out, "Okay, so maybe you do know what I was going to say. But you missed two things."  
The girls turned back with suspicious looks adorning their faces. "What?"

* * *

Darren looked at the ground for a few seconds then looked back up at the girls with fire in his eyes and a determined face. "One, I can promise you that your life will be at stake and that not all of you will make it by the end of the day tomorrow. Two, Mr. Crepsley? Yeah. He's mine. Nobody is allowed to touch him."

Just then, everybody slowly got out their weapons at the sound of somebody running up to them. Amber came out of the bushes, out of breath and flushed. She held up a finger, trying to catch her breath. The vampires around her still held out their weapons –she had been among the group who abandoned Darren, so they were uncertain of her motives. She sighed and began to speak. "I'm sorry for abandoning you," she said apologetically. "So I decided to spy on the vampaneze to make up for it."

"Th-they have plans to attack. Tomorrow." She smiled an evil, insane smile. "But it's at the same time as you."

Darren nodded in thanks and turned to the others. "This is going to be our final war guys. And I have a feeling that it's going to be a blood bath."

The next day, all of the "Team Darren" members were lined up at the front of Vampire Mountain. Most of them were terrified to go up against their masters, their friends. Their only family left in the world. Nevertheless, they had to do this. They had to do this for all of them.  
Because if they didn't, what would happen to their mentors?

Jenny was standing next to Darren. She was terrified. Sam was her best friend. A sister that was dead because of this. She wanted nothing more than to run away. But she had to do this. If not for her, then for Darren. If not for him, then for Sam.

She sighed and looked at Darren. He was looking around the snowy forest, waiting for Steve and his "followers." He already had a prep talk to the rest of the vampires… If telling the whole lot of "Team Darren" that they were on a suicide mission was a prep talk.

After a while, Darren raised his hand and they slowly started to creep up the mountain. After a few seconds of anybody barely breathing, they heard some shouts. Everybody stopped and it was completely silent. After a few seconds, the shouts increased in speed and volume. They quickly backtracked back to the forest, screaming, so the vampires would follow them there. They have the advantage there. There were trees, hiding places, and, the most important thing, they had masks hidden all around there.

The vampires and vampaneze chased the group of half vampires into the woods were some of the girls threw some rocks at them, to somewhat shock them and gave the others time to turn and bring out their swords and knives.

It was now time.

This was it.

Everybody knew.

This was the final war between them.

Darren saw a streak of red and was about to go after it when Steve pushed him off his track. Darren struck his sword to Steve's knife, but suddenly, Darren was flying through the air. Mr. Crepsley was standing there with his face scrunched up in a snarl at Darren.  
Darren sighed and grabbed a mask from his spot he landed. He had to get his mentor back, no matter the cost. The red-clad vampire ran off, taking Steve with him.  
A vampire that was converted back into...well, sane a few hours ago shouted to Darren that he needed his help over in the meadow with some vampaneze. Darren nodded and got up and ran to his aid. He dashed around, witnessing battles that he wished never happened.

Master and assistant. Darren felt his heart beat in pain for them, he had only fought his mentor once and that was when they were practicing. It was, needless to say, an easy victory for Mr. Crepsley.

Darren jumped off a big rock, over to the vampire. He nodded and ran out in the meadow to find some vampires eating away at Amber.

She was long since dead, her heart ripped out. She died in a way that was peaceful, killed instantly from behind, but it was all the same. Darren ran towards them, sword in hand. He remained silent until he was ten feet away. Then he howled, almost like an animal, and they wiped her blood off their lips.  
They charged at Darren and swiped with their claws at his face. He dodged, but received a knee in the stomach instead. The vampire had jumped on Darren's back, used it as a boost, and jumped higher in the air. He landed behind all the three deranged vampires and swung his sword back. It had cut one's neck and the vampire screamed out in pain.  
The vampire growled and dug his sword it deeper, blood spraying him down in rich red blood. The man dropped to the ground, dead. If not, then he was going to be soon. Darren threw off the vampaneze that was on him and the vampaneze growled at the vampire and Darren. They must have known that Darren was the leader, because they went after him first.

Darren had easily dodged the attack and jumped over him. He turned back around and swiped down with his sword. The vampaneze was hit across the back, leaving a large cut from the bottom up to the neck. The vampire grinned and pushed the vampaneze out of the way. "Nice job Darren," he said.

Darren turned and smiled. "Thanks, but-look out!" The vampaneze got off the ground and pounced on the vampire. They were almost fighting too fast for Darren to see, but he heard the sound of flesh being ripped open. Darren charged forward and was about to rip the vampaneze off the vampire's neck, which was now covered in red blood, but instead, found himself flying through the air and hitting the snow covered ground with a grunt.  
Darren looked up to see his old master, Larten Crepsley standing a few feet away. His eyes were pure white and you could literally see the veins inside of them. His teeth and hands were covered in blood and so were his clothes. His royal-red cape was torn in half, but he either didn't know this, or he didn't care.

"Mr. Crepsley, if you can hear me, please come back! I need you, we all need you!" Darren shouted at the man, praying that his old master could once more hear him again.

The Larten that stood in front of Darren lifted his lip and snarled. Darren shook away memories that clouded his mind and pulled out his sword. "So be it." He locked eyes with the vampire and got into battle stance.

"I'm sorry Mr. Crepsley," he whispered and charged at the vampire.

The vampire met his opponent halfway and threw his claws at Darren's face. Darren blocked it just in time. Some of his eyelashes were severed and fell into his eye, but those were blinked out a few seconds later. Darren swung his sword at him and hit some of the ribs. It had barely even touched the skin, but Darren was just glad that he had touched him, but at the same time, he was just glad that he didn't hurt him. He swung again and Larten grabbed the blade, cutting his palm wide open. Blood started gushing out onto the sword blade as he gripped tighter. Darren drew his sword back and widened his eyes.

_He was trapped._

If he wanted to escape, he would have to kill Mr. Crepsley. But if he didn't, Mr. Crepsley would kill _him._ Darren backed up a bit more at the smile he saw on his 'master's' face.

Darren growled at him, trying to mask his fear. He looked at the vampaneze on the ground, now through killing the vampire. Darren inwardly screamed. Now he was up against two of them. The vampaneze looked at Larten, then Darren. He started running to Darren, nearly hitting flitting speed. Darren's eyes were dinner plates when he randomly stuck up his sword and closed his eyes, hoping for the best.  
When he felt something on the sword, he opened them and saw the handle now covered in blood. The vampaneze had hit the sword so hard, that the blade pierced him _up to the handle_. Darren smiled and jumped back, now handling a sword soaked with blood.

"That worked! I can't believe that worked, Mr. Crepsley, did you see–" He turned to his master, only to see that he was gone.

He turned around, now a little worried, when something grabbed his chest and held him down. Darren struggled in the grasp and tried to move. There was only one arm holding him down and the other was reaching for something. They fell to the ground, causing Darren's breath to huff out of his chest. Darren looked up blindly for the person who held him there, coming face to face with his mentor.

He looked over and saw his bag; it had the mask in it that he could use to get the old Mr. Crepsley back. He reached out his arm, while Mr. Crepsley slowly brought up the knife he had and prepared himself to strike. Darren, being completely focused on getting the mask, didn't see that he had brought out the knife. He got a bad feeling and looked up to see the knife that was arcing towards his chest. He used his other arm to try and stop it.  
Darren tried to get the mask, but he couldn't hold the knife back at the same time. He made a snap decision and grabbed the mask with both hands. He shot it up to his master's face. He placed it over his mouth and–  
The knife went in his chest.  
Darren gasped and started shaking.  
Mr. Crepsley slowly returned back to himself. Once white eyes turned to green. Headaches returned as if he had drunk a whole vat of ale the previous night. His eyes went fuzzy and he blinked them for a few seconds then opened then fully.  
He looked down when he felt a weight on his chest and saw Darren bleeding out. He froze for a few seconds then quickly covered the wound on his chest with his hands, applying pressure to try to stop the bleeding.

"Darren? Darren what happened?"

Darren smiled a weak smile before speaking. "Yo-you're back."

Mr. Crepsley wracked his brain, trying to remember what could his student meant. "Darren, what are you talking about? The last thing I remember was going into the Hall of Princes for something."

Darren relaxed and laid his head down on the now red snow "I'm glad you're back." Darren slowly closed his eyes and relaxed into sleep. Mr. Crepsley tried to swallow tears, but then Seba came out and helped him carry Darren back to their camp.  
- - -

A few days later, Darren woke up. He tried to get up, but some something gently guided him back down. He looked up to see a concerned yet relieved face of Larten Crepsley. "You need to stay down."

Darren smiled again and looked around –they were in the mountain. That was obvious. They were in Mr. Crepsley's room and he was lying in his hammock.

"You were out for quite a while. Are you feeling alright?"

Darren nodded and asked what had happened. "Well, after you had fallen asleep, we got all the bodies of the dead and carried them to camp. Then we made sure that Leonard wasn't around, along with those purple monsters.

We gave all of them funerals and set up your hammock here, so I could keep an eye on you longer and more carefully then I originally could with you in yours."

Darren nodded. "Is everybody okay though?"

Larten nodded. "Some tragic deaths occurred, but nothing out of the ordinary for vampires. The Gods will be proud to welcome them in."

Darren nodded. "Can you do me a favor though?"

"It depends on what it is."

"Can you tell me about the funerals?"


End file.
